Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
have teamed up to meet environmental challenges, including loss of biodiversity, ero-
sion, and salinity, through voluntary improvement programs. Australia's Landcare
movement is recognized internationally for its achievements in addressing environ-
mental impacts of agriculture.
This community-led approach to solving environmental problems is now being
applied to meet challenges in the coastal zone. The Jan Juc Coast Action Group be-
gan as an informal collective of concerned individuals and has operated as a formal
body for more than a decade. The group's stated aim is to “maintain and reestablish
biodiversity” in the coastal strip as well as to “protect and continue to provide access”
to the coast (Spittle 2007). The group operates in the coastal fringe area between Jan
Juc Creek and Bells Beach. There are other community conservation groups active in
the area, too. For example, Surfrider Foundation, Surfers Apprectiating the Natural
Environment, and others work on conservation projects, including revegetation, edu-
cation, and access improvement.
It is the contribution of key individuals that will largely determine the success of
community groups. The Jan Juc group has been led by one long-term resident for two
decades. The group currently has a membership of around fifty active participants
and plants about four thousand plants annually. Since its inception, the group has re-
stored about three miles of the coastal reserve between the road and the cliff top. Ac-
tions have been funded through state and federal funding mechanisms. The group
has delivered about a dozen projects in the past decade, with combined funding total-
ing around $100,000. As well as restoration, the group has delivered revegetation, pest
plant control, access improvement, education and infrastructure development, and
maintenance projects (DSE 2005).
Motivations for Volunteering
Put simply, a volunteer is somebody who provides a service to the community without
expectation of payment. What then are the rewards for the thousands of Victorians
who regularly volunteer? Motivations extend beyond altruism. For some people, it is
linked to the social opportunities they derive from the activity. Others appreciate the
opportunity to address particular issues that directly affect them and to make positive
contributions to their community. Some people get involved to develop new skills
and knowledge, while others take up the opportunity to use existing skills within a set-
ting outside of the workplace. In my experience, many volunteers don't regard their
volunteering as a “separate” activity; rather they see it as part of belonging to their
community.
Motivations for volunteering may be viewed in the context of the constant tension
between ecocentrism and anthropocentrism. The anthropocentric view elevates our
role of command over other species, while the outcome may still be positive for the
ecosystem. Ecocentrics consciously strive to put society back within the ecological
context, and it is in small settlements so influenced by nature and the elements that
this is more easily achieved. Murphy (2004) notes the presence of “alternatives”
within the new coastal demographic—a group that is sometimes at odds with the orig-
inal resource exploitation economies and cultures of coastal towns.
